


carelessness and clouds

by Florence930



Series: The Symptoms of an Accidental Relationship [2]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Rated T for swearing, Short One Shot, angst if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:47:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23934826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Florence930/pseuds/Florence930
Summary: It's Bonnie's birthday and everyone has forgotten, except one.
Relationships: Bonnie Bennett/Malachai "Kai" Parker
Series: The Symptoms of an Accidental Relationship [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1245257
Comments: 6
Kudos: 59





	carelessness and clouds

**Author's Note:**

> really need to start writing for this series again.

* * *

The doorbell would not stop ringing.

Bonnie, tucked away in her blankets, looked up at her clock while feeling dazed and drowsy as it was, “nine in the morning?” Bonnie frowned, “who the fuck?” _Why_ the fuck?

Yes, it's not obscenely early but it's still a Saturday.

She blinked tiredly, the heat closely bringing her back to slumber when an obnoxiously elongated buzz enveloped her home then. Bonnie rolled her eyes, getting up while muttering, "I'm going to kill someone today." 

Bonnie dragged the top blanket from her bed, covering her shoulders as she walked downstairs, "alright, I'm coming. Shut up," she barked. She swung open the door, "what the hell?" Bonnie groaned, instinctively moving to the side to let her intruder in.

"Why aren't you dressed?" Caroline handed Bonnie a take away cup of coffee.

Bonnie held the cup, hunched over and confused as she watched her friend watch her in disappointment. "Why are you here?"

Caroline lightly scoffed, hand on hip, "umm, the sample sale?" Bonnie brows furrowed and Caroline let out an indignant squeak, "the sample sale we talked about two weeks ago? You promised you'd go with me."

"It's today?"

"Well," Caroline shrugged, "the date got moved up a little." Her pleading eyes, blue round saucers. "You promised you'd go," her bottom lip pushed out for an extra dash of friendly manipulation. 

But Bonnie's eyes widened in understanding.

"I texted for you last night about it."

And Bonnie needs to start checking her phone.

They did talk about it though when Caroline met up with Bonnie at the Grill.

Bonnie was in a particularly good mood that morning when she managed to perfect this annoyingly, difficult spell that's been driving her bonkers for a week. Kai helped her with it though. Bonnie had sent him a text asking for a translation on a particular word, he quickly texted back _what for?_ Bonnie answered with a simple _spell_ , followed by a _duh._ He didn't reply back, instead he showed up on her porch ten minutes later, dressed in dark jeans and a navy, collared button up. Bonnie almost felt like a slob in her sweatpants and baggy hoodie. 

"You know how awesome I am at Latin. I can help you with more than one word, Bonnie," Kai casually tuts as he strides inside her house like he lives there. 

Bonnie only resignedly nodded, fixing her messy bun before as she closed the door behind her, following Kai into her living room. 

Kai was awesome at Latin. She's known that for a while as that was not the first time he's helped her and although, he's had a pretty hefty head start in magical knowledge and know how, it gets to her how little she generally knows. She's got natural fire power and the unmatched strength passed down by her ancestors but she doesn't know how to necessarily maintain it or properly use it for that matter.

It also frustrates to recently realise that she only ever seems to pick up her grimoire when her town or her friends are in mortal danger.

Bonnie needs to study, basically, just for the sake of studying and not see her powers as some sort of chore to only help others.

She wants to be enlightened. 

However, she's not going to acknowledge the correlation between her intense magical interest surfacing and Kai making a pseudo home in Mystic Falls. 

She will accept that it is nice to have another witch around, even if it is Kai.

"How are you suppose to learn anything in this mess?" Kai frowns, surveying her coffee table that was strewn in notes and take away cartons. 

Bonnie rolled her eyes.

 _Sometimes_ it was nice having another witch around. 

Bonnie is brought to the present by Caroline pushing towards the stairs, "alright, Caroline. Stop, I'll get ready."

Her friend gives one last push for good measure. 

"Wear comfortable shoes," Caroline shouts after her when Bonnie walks into her room, "and drink your coffee, you'll need it." 

Bonnie takes a sip. It's so early. "Jesus," she softly sighs. 

"I heard that!"

*********

"Okay, we're going to stick together," Caroline surveyed the bustling area like a lioness in hunting mode. She dramatically took off her sunglasses. "Let's check out the shoes and make our way to formal dresses," she gives Bonnie a deliberate stare at the last bit of the sentence before gauging the place. 

Bonnie absently nodded as she sipped her coffee. "Where are we going for brunch?"

"Bonnie," Caroline tutted, "get your head in the game." She tilted her head, "there's a cute little restaurant down the road though, shall we try there?" 

"Let's," Bonnie said, playfully serious. A woman just then practically bulldozed through Bonnie to get to the blouse section, "ah fuck." She rubbed her shoulder, fighting the urge to not create a tear in the woman's shopping bags. 

She's really not a morning person.

Caroline grabbed Bonnie's hand, pulling her along with the crowd, "remember, let's stick together," her friend called out as Bonnie quickly chugged her luke-warm coffee, anticipating a spillage in the near future if she doesn't finish it off now. "If we split up, just say my name, I'll hear you," she pointed to her ear, "obviously."

"Sure," Bonnie said, putting her empty coffee cup in her bag. 

An announcement blared through the speaker then.

" _We have a seventy percent_ _off all women's jackets, I repeat a seventy percent off all women's jackets."_

Bonnie and Caroline only had a split second of shared horror before the crowds collectively moved liked a tidal wave. The grip on her hand lessoned as Bonnie was pushed in another direction. "Care."

Caroline turned as much as she could, "meet me at the shoe section. Keep heading north." 

Bonnie tried not to whine as she was seemingly pushed towards the lingerie area. 

"North, Bonnie. I'll find you." As the crowd shifted, she just about saw Caroline raise her hand, pointing in front of her. Bonnie could only give her the thumbs up as she was shuffled to the side. Bonnie pouted, she needed to buy new bras anyway. 

*********

"Love ya!" Caroline yelled out when Bonnie reached her porch. 

"Love you too!" Bonnie called out as she took out her keys, waving as Caroline's car pulled away from the curb. 

She let out a tired breath as she opened her front door. Her feet were killing her. She toed off her ankle boots as made her way to the kitchen.

Bonnie placed her shopping bags on her table. She bought a couple of cute lacy bras and underwear but it was the dress that Bonnie internally cooed over. She's back to owning a fancy dress. A midnight blue, floor length thin strapped dress that clung to her curves. She took out the white box to peek inside, giving the dress a quick once over. In hindsight this dress wasn't very practical either, it was so pretty she couldn't help it, she shrugged, putting it back. 

As she made her way to the fridge, the calendar above caught her attention. Bonnie's eyes narrowed. "Huh," she opened the fridge. Apparently it's her birthday. She took out a carton of juice while checking her phone. No messages. 

There's a part of her that thinks that maybe Caroline concocted an elaborate plan to throw her a party, drag her to a warehouse sale, tire her out and throw her a surprise party when she least expects it? God, she hopes not and it's nearly seven, seems extremely unlikely.

They all just genuinely forgot about it, including herself. 

Bonnie mentally shrugged, tugging off her hair tie, curls falling around her shoulders as she made her way upstairs, wanting to slip into her pyjamas. 

She let out a loud yawn as she put on her cotton leggings, an idea popped into her head then. Well, a spell. A silly spell. Another thing, she's come to realise, magic can be very silly. She obviously had to scour beyond the Bennett grimoires to look for such spells.

Last week she turned her couch into a fluffy cloud. Not an actual cloud of course, she'd be soaked. A robust, bouncy cloud, like cotton balls but flowy as if it was placed in the sky and the wind breathed through the other-worldly material. 

It felt heavenly lying on it. 

She was kinda sad to have to turn it back. 

She bit her lip before quietly chanting, " _adeventicio fulget_." 

She stopped when many, tiny globes of gold light started lightly falling around her shoulders. She made her way to her full length mirror and laughed. A small cloud was hovering a couple inches above her head, raining down such light. She grinned when every time she moved her head to side, the cloud would move with her. She quickly shook her head, chuckling when the cloud seemed to vibrate, trying to keep up with the movement. 

Bonnie exhaled a breath, "stupid." A small smile still on her lips. She was tempted to check her phone but didn't see the point. 

She was exhausted anyway, having to push her way around aggressive, determined shoppers took a lot of effort. 

She let out a wistful sigh, catching up on her T.V shows and left over lasagne it is. 

She walked out of her room, into the hallway and into something solid. 

Bonnie startled when she swiftly realised it was a man, "motu-" wait? She took a giant step back and scowled, "Kai! the fuck?" 

Kai only stood there, his head tilted. After a moment, he cleared his throat, "what you got there?" He asked, nonplussed. 

Bonnie frowned, confused, until she saw specks of light in her periphery, "oh," she awkwardly adopted a look of casualness. She placed a hand on her hip, "just trying out something," she shrugged as if she was commenting on a sweater and not an actual cloud on her head. 

Kai nodded slowly, eyes flitting from the cloud to her flushed face. "Alrighty." 

She notices his minute smirk, her eyes narrow. "What are you doing here?"

His face grew serious, "you left your front door open."

Bonnie's eyes widened, "oh, okay."

"There's dangerous people out there," Kai stated, a tad patronising which irked Bonnie. 

Bonnie rolled her eyes, brushing passed him, "I know. I'm friends with most of them." She hears Kai strolling behind her as she walks down the stairs, "I assumed you happened to be walking by?" She asks, purposely sarcastic. 

"Not exactly."

Bonnie hums, skipping down the last step. 

"Happy Birthday, Bon." 

Bonnie paused at his quiet words before quickly turning around, nearly crashing into him but he grabbed the railing last minute.

How did he know it was her birthday?

Bonnie looked up at him, internally frowning as another thought crossed her mind.

She knows he catches her unawares, randomly showing up at her house so she's not going to pay attention to her appearance but this isn't really fair. She's never seen him look like a slob and he's seen her look like one many times. 

Of course, not that she cares. It's only Kai. 

She fixes the collar of her ratty, old Backstreet Boys t-shirt. 

"How'd you know?" She eyes him shrewdly, leaning her elbow on the railing. 

He surprises her by laughing but there's no humour in it. It's dark and biting. "You didn't think I'd ever forget did you?"

Her forehead creased before realisation dawns, her heart instinctively speeding up in remembrance. She heavily exhales, "oh. Right." 

It's been a year already, how time certainly flies. 

Bonnie's not sure what her face looks like but his own softens at the sight of it. 

"Bonnie," he hesitantly says, "do you wanna ta-"

"No," Bonnie shakes her head, "no. I don't." His face shutters and she realises how harsh her tone was. "Thanks though," she quietly throws out.

She takes a step back, not realising she was still on the last step. 

Kai with his quick reflexes reach for her, grabbing her around the waist, yanking her back to him with a thud. She's sure she elbowed him in the stomach, she glances up, with the way his face was pinched, she definitely elbowed him in the stomach.

"Sorry," she whispered. 

Kai nods, eyes clenched. "It's fine," he rasps, winded. 

He slowly opens his eyes and Bonnie notices how close they are, both standing on the same last step. 

The only other time they were ever this close was when she kissed him, just a ploy to save themselves, but her cheeks weirdly blush nonetheless. 

She carefully steps down, looking away, not noticing the tightening of his jaw as he drops his hand from her waist. Turning back to him, "you didn't get me anything, did you?"

He raised an eye brow as he stepped down, "did you want me to get you anything?"

"No."

He simpered, "don't worry. I didn't."

Bonnie nodded, "good," She walks back into the kitchen, stalls at the sight on the table. "Kai," she grits. He walks up behind her, "thought you said you didn't get me anything."

"I practically didn't."

"Kai."

"At least it's not a birthday cake." It might as well be, the lone, colourful, cup cake was giant, so big that mini cupcakes were speckled on the top. She can hear the shrug in his voice as he said, "I live near a bakery, seems customary to bring something."

"Oh." 

"It's probably stale, been out all day." 

She turns around. Honestly, it's a little endearing how awkward he looks right now, hands in his denim pockets, head bowed a little as he eyes her. 

"Thank you," she says with a seriousness she means. "Really, thanks."

He nods in a slow, contemplative sort of way, a look he gets when he's trying to work out a plan, before he gestures towards the table, "wanna try it."

Bonnie nods, walking towards the cupboards but Kai's voice stalls her, "don't bother with the plates." She turns around to see Kai holding one of the mini cakes in his hand, his other hand resting on the table as he leans against it. She glances at him questioningly as she walks back to him, "not staying long."

That's unusual. Kai would usually stay as long as he could, Bonnie would always eventually have to kick him out with threats of pain or aneurysms or her go to, fire. 

She grabs one of the mini cupcakes and takes a bite at the same time as Kai. Bonnie slowly chews the dry texture, at least the icing is nice. 

"Yeah, it's stale," Kai says dismissively, placing the cupcake back on the table. 

Bonnie nods, following suit. "Maybe, a little."

Kai smirks at that, his gaze drifting to the shopping bags. The smaller bag catches his interest, staring at it for a couple of seconds before turning away and Bonnie just realised he got an eyeful of flimsy cream and lilac lace. 

"Your friends took you out?" It was more of a statement then a question. 

Bonnie bit her bottom lip, nodding as she avoided his gaze. "Yeah, it was a really nice birthday...day." She resisted a sigh. She cautiously looked back to see him assessing her in his usual way which reflexively gets her defences up, "what?" 

He shakes his head in reply, "nothing." 

Bonnie clears her throat, "well, now that you're here, I have spell I wouldn't mind you looking at."

A slow smile spreads across his face, "does this one include clouds?"

She gives him a droll smile in return, the cloud above her head slowly dissipating, "no, this one's a bit more serious."

"Is it life or death kind of serious?" Bonnie shakes her head, curious, "then no can do, we'll need a rain check on that. Gotta plane to catch."

"Now?" Bonnie says with raised brows. 

"Coven business. I'll be in Portland for a week or two."

Bonnie nods, used to his frequent visits to Oregon but always a little surprised when he leaves to tend to his responsibilities. Strangely, sometimes she even forgets he has a coven to look after, he's so wrapped up with Mystic Falls. _With her_.

Bonnie turns away, "have a safe trip," she mutters, collecting her cup cake to place a cover over it. She places the cup cake on the counter, stares at the rainbow frosting. "Thank you for this."

She swallows the sudden emotion she felt then, genuine, gut wrenching gratitude and for someone she used to despise. Is she so deprived of affection that right now she wants to run across her kitchen and hug him. Cling to him and cry that everyone forgot her birthday. How sad. How pathetic. Not to mention melodramatic. She wonders what he would do if she did, he'd welcome her touch, sure but her tears? Most likely not. He'd be so embarrassed. Bonnie almost smiles at the thought. 

Kai exhales a short laugh at that, she turns at the sound. "When you're not threatening my life, you can be unwaveringly polite, you know?"

Bonnie's lips quirk, leaning against the counter, she shrugs. "Southern hospitality, I guess."

He bites the inside of his cheek as if to reign in a smile. "I forgot the candles."

"Good."

He pouts, "what's a cake with no candles?"

She folds her arms. "A cake that isn't splattered on the floor."

He scoffs. "It's your floor," he mumbles. He tucks his hands in coat pockets, peers at her a moment that makes Bonnie fidget. He nods once, "see you soon, Bonnie." He starts walking out of the kitchen and she follows him out, southern hospitality and all that. 

She watches him walk down the porch and towards his car, his dark coat blending in the darkness. "Safe travels," she calls out, feeling suddenly lame when she realised she already said that. 

"Lock your door this time." He says, pointedly gruff, before getting inside his car.

Bonnie rolls her eyes before closing her door, the engine of his car roaring as Bonnie turns the locks. 

She walks back into the kitchen, in the mood for something sweet, unfortunately she forgot to do some grocery shopping yesterday so stale cake would have to make do. She doesn't notice the smile she has on as she brings the cup cake to the living room, a snack to eat as she catches up on her shows. 

*********

The next morning she woke up to a text message from her mom, wishing her a belated happy birthday and that she'll call her later on in the evening.

In about one in the afternoon, the door bell rang. Bonnie opened it to two profusely apologetic friends.

"We're taking you to lunch," Elena nodded enthusiastically, "you pick the place obviously."

"How dare you not remind me yesterday." Caroline chided as she enclosed Bonnie in a hug. Bonnie patted her back, exchanging a confused smile with Elena, "how did I not even register that it was your birthday, all I thought about was that damn sale. Uh! my priorities." 

"It was seventy percent off though," Bonnie said diplomatically as she pulled away. 

Caroline huffed before wriggling her way between Elena and Bonnie, wrapping both her arms around their shoulders. "Let's get some food and some cocktails."

"Sounds good," Bonnie grins as she locks her front door behind her. 

"I bought you a sash," Caroline said casually as they walked down the steps, "it's pink and it says _birthday hottie_ on it."

"Not wearing it," Bonnie smiled sweetly at her friend.

"Oh please."

"Nope."

"Wait until she gets a long island cocktail in her," Elena staged whispered, "she'll wear it then."

Caroline smirked, "good thinking," she drawls before giving an obvious wink to Elena. 

Bonnie shakes her head, a slight smile on her lips as she opens the passenger door.

* * *


End file.
